


The Haunted House

by Hovl



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Haunted Houses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:41:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27305035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hovl/pseuds/Hovl
Summary: When Cackles goes trick or treating, the girl are excited. But going a house too far could spell disaster.
Kudos: 12





	The Haunted House

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Halloween (Special)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21255707) by [Tww2017fan2019 (orphan_account)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Tww2017fan2019). 



> This is actually the first fic I wrote back in January, but I decided to hold it to be topical (I also have a Christmas fic). This also means that it is set during season 3.

Mildred spent most of the day preparing. Making sure everything was ready. It was Halloween and Miss Cackle had agreed to let whoever wanted to go trick or treating. She was in the final stages of her costume, the make-up. She had acquired some headgear where she could pull her hair through but in the centre was a piece of fake skin on which she was currently applying make-up to. Once that was done, she was ready to go. She looked in the mirror and had a sudden feeling that she was actually dead. Her head looked as though it had had an axe come straight down onto it. She had always had a degree of skill in face-painting but she amazed herself with this. You could see her brain which had pieces of her skull embedded in it. She thought that, if it wasn’t Halloween, people would believe her dead.

The rest of her costume was relatively simple. She had made her skin as pale as possible and had let fake blood drip from the ‘crack’ in her head which came about halfway down her forehead. She was wearing the St Joseph's uniform her mum had brought before they knew about Cackles which Miss Cackle had graciously sized up for her so it fit. Some more fake blood had been carefully laid on. Mildred looked at the clock and realised that she was a couple of minutes late. She ran towards the courtyard ignoring the stares of disbelief she was getting from the other students. She arrived a few minutes later.

“Ahh Mildred Hubble. You will be joining us tonight.” Miss Hardbroom stressed the first sound of every syllable as usual. “Your costume isn’t as bad as the others.”

“I’m sorry and thank you.” After all that was high praise from the potions mistress.

Mildred looked behind Miss Hardbroom to see her fellow students’ reactions to her costume. A couple of the girl had physically thrown up, other couldn’t look at they were so scared, and the rest were staring. A perfect composition Mildred thought.

“Alright.” Miss Hardbroom spoke up. “Ms. Hubble has kindly volunteered to take us around the non-magical town as she is non-magical herself.”

Mildred couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Miss Hardbroom seemed to revel in the fact her mother had no magic.

“We will transfer to her flat and from there go around the town. We will be back by nine and you will go straight to bed.” She turned to Mildred. “Or to the shower. Now let’s make sure everyone is here. Mildred Hubble?”

“Here Miss”

“Maud Spellbody?”

“Here Miss” Maud had put some effort into her costume as Mildred had told her what she was doing but still her vampire left something to be desired.

“Enid Nightshade?”

“Here Miss” Significantly more time and money had been put into her skeleton. The outfits had to be none magic but there was some magic to make it seem more 3D.

“Indigo Moon?”

“Here Miss” With Mildred’s help, Indy had created a decent clown outfit which ended up being somewhat similar to Pennywise.

“Felicity Foxglove?”

“Here Miss” She had dressed up as a hag with a wig, long robes and no small amount of make-up. Although it still wasn’t as detailed as Mildred’s.

“Beatrice Bunch?”

“Here Miss” She was also a vampire and it looked like a lot of effort to make but she wasn’t the best at art, so the costume wasn’t the best.

“Bella Bluebell?”

“Here Miss” One half of conjoined twins.

“Poppy Bluebell?”

“Here Miss” The other half. Everyone, including themselves, thought this was a bad idea but still.

“Carol Sparrow?”

“Here Miss” A barely prepared werewolf if you could call it that.

“and Doris Hallwinter?”

“Here Miss” She had put on an alien costume.

Mildred felt sad for Sybil Hallow who wanted to come but was talked out of it by her sister Ethel. Mildred agreed with Ethel that Sybil would be terrified and didn’t want to think what her reaction would be to the events of tonight or to her costume, so hadn’t tried to convince Sybil otherwise.

“Right.” Without warning, Miss Hardbroom transferred them to Mildred’s flat.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Julie had been patiently waiting for the group to transfer in. Mildred had told her about her costume, so she didn’t freak out. She started pacing with nervous energy. She had loved trick or treating with Mildred but hadn’t been able to since Mildred started Cackles and they didn’t get trick or treaters 14 floors up in a flat. At that moment, a group suddenly appeared in the living room.

“Hello girls.” Julie said to them. “Oh dear Mildred. You’re not feeling light-headed, are you?” With a chuckle, Mildred replied, “No. Sometimes I wonder if you're actually my dad.” The girls were already suppressing laughing from Julie’s comment, but Mildred’s set them off. Seeing Miss Hardbroom standing there I her normal clothes, Julie commented, “Not dressing up then, Miss Hardbroom?”

“Not likely. And what are you supposed to be?”

“Frankenstein’s monster.” Came the reply as Julie picked up a masked. She hadn’t had enough time to make her own costume, so she’d brought one.

“Are we ready to go?” Miss Hardbroom decided to end her conversation with Julie.

“Yes” came the collective response from the girls.

“You’re just missing one thing.” Julie interrupted

“And just what would that be?”

“Buckets” She pulled out enough buckets for everyone. “Now let’s go”

\------------------------------------------------------

As they went through the last few houses, having magically enlarged their buckets to hold all the sweets they were getting, Julie pulled Miss Hardbroom back and they spoke in whispers.

“They’re probably talking about you Mildred” Maud said looking at them.

“Or Mum’s telling HB not to always transfer her without consulting her first”

Mildred had gotten several compliments on her outfit and had managed to scare some of the adults. Knocking on the last door and getting yet more sweets, Mildred suddenly said “Let’s go to the house in the wood.”

“Millie, I'm not sure that’s a good idea. You know nobody lives there and there are tales of it being haunted”

“I fail to see the problem. If the girls wish to go, then they should.” Miss Hardbroom countered and Julie grumbled in agreement.

“Come on it’ll be fun”

It took a bit of convincing, but they agreed to go.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they entered the wood and neared the house, it got unnaturally dark. This sent shivers down the spines of some of the girls. Mildred’s confidence managed to get all of them towards the door. Mildred went to do three hard knocks on the door but only two landed as the door swung open to reveal the house.

“Trick or treat?” Mildred said as she took a step inside.

“Mildred Hubble. You will get out of the house now!”

But she ignored her teacher and continued.

Enid went in after her saying, “Cool. An actual haunted house.”

“Millie. I don’t want you going in there.” Julie had gone inside to get her daughter out.

All the girls ended up inside either out of curiosity, to get their friends out or, in Bella’s case, being dragged in. Miss Hardbroom then stepped in to get the girls out but as she did, the door closed.

“Miss Hardbroom why did you shut the door?” the voice of Beatrice squealed

“I didn’t.” She turned around and tried to open the door but it wouldn’t open. “No matter, I’ll transfer us out.” She did the hand gesture to do so but they stayed in place. “W - we’ll just have to find another way out.”

With that, the girls were all terrified.

“I - I - I’m s – sorry. I should never have brought you here” Mildred sputtered out.

“It’s ok Millie we just need to get out.” Indy said.

There was no light in the house now as the windows were keeping the light out, so Poppy tried a light spell. “Um, I can’t do a light spell. Can someone else.”

Several of the girls and Miss Hardbroom tried but they couldn’t. They tried other spells before realising that magic wasn’t working.

“The electric lights also don’t work” Julie chimed in.

After a few moments, their eyes adjusted to the lack of light and they could see the hall they were in.

“We probably shouldn’t touch anything.” Mildred said.

“Look at this place. It looks like nobody has been in here in years” Felicity spoke in petrified awe. The room was covered in dust and spider webs. Behind this was a decrypted house. The wallpaper was old-fashioned and falling off revealing mouldy walls. The furniture was all antique. In its day, it would have been majestic.

“Ok, Felicity can we try to get out now please” Carol was not enjoying this very much.

“Should we split up?” Doris offered the suggestion.

“No. That never ends well in the movies so...” Julie had a hint but fear in her voice but seemed to be trying to keep it together for the girls.

“Mum’s right. We stay together. Let’s see if there if there is a back door.”

Following Mildred through the house and over floorboards that creaked with every step, they left the hallway and entered an enormous living room. Like the hallway, everything was antique and/or falling apart. However, there was a fire raging.

“H - Ho – How i – is that still going if nobody’s been hear?” Maud had been doing okay at holding in her terror, but this had destroyed any hope of keeping it in.

“I don’t know. Let’s just get out of here” Mildred told her friend who nodded, and they carried on.

Behind them Miss Hardbroom had gone pale and had been unable to speak. The kitchen was in the same style as the rest of the house. Enid made the mistake of opening the fridge.

“Oh god. How long has that food been in there?”

“I don’t know but this door also won’t open” Mildred had tried the back door.

“Could we try to break the window?”

“Yes Beatrice, we could. Can someone get me a poker from the fire please.” Mildred said in a somewhat delighted tone.

Half of the girls went with Miss Hardbroom as they didn’t want to go alone. They came back with the poker and handing it to Mildred who swung with all her might at the window. As the rod and window collided, to everyone’s surprise, the rod bent, and the window was fine.

“Ok” came a small shrill from Mildred. The kettle then turned itself on. “Ok. Nothing wrong with that.”

“Let’s move on.” This came from Carol.

They all agreed and walked through another hallway and into a library. None of the books looked opened and it somehow seemed darker. The shelves were floor to ceiling and the ceilings had been very high.

“I just want to go home.” Bella began crying.

“We all do Bella; now would you stop crying.” Her sister chided her.

“Poppy there is no need to be mean.” Miss Hardbroom found her voice although it was much quieter and not as harsh.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry Bella. Everything is going to be ok.”

It was then that Mildred suddenly vanished.

“Mils?” Julie was crestfallen had the disappearance of her daughter.

“Millie?” Maud, Enid and Indigo were also horrified at the latest development as everyone was.

They stood there, unable to move, for a couple of minutes. The silence was deafening as they saw Julie breakdown without a word.

Maud tried to comfort Julie. “I’m sure we’ll find her”

“How can you be? She just vanished.”

“Because Mildred will always come back to you.” This response came from Enid.

“Wherever she is right now, she will be making sure she gets back to you.” Indy joined in with the comforting. Julie seemed to be coming around.

Then they heard Mildred scream from upstairs.

“Millie.” Her mother took off running up the stairs in the next room.

“Julie. I’m sure there is no need to panic.” But Miss Hardbroom didn’t sound sure at all and set off after Julie with the girls in tow.

Julie throw open all the doors and saw bedroom after bedroom but no Mildred. Miss Hardbroom managed to catch up in a study with some students a bit behind her. A faded picture hung on the wall. The man in the picture was dressed in 1600’s attire and eyes that followed you everywhere.

“Julie. I need you to calm down.”  
  


“But Mils is somewhere and in danger.”

“We don’t …”

She was cut off by the opening of a door down the hall. “Mils?” She rushed out of the room. As she turned to look into the room,

“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Upon hearing Julie scream, Maud rounded the doorway and fell to her knees. There on the bed was Mildred. She lay in a pool of blood and, from a wound in her tummy, her guts were protruding. They spilt out onto the bed as Mildred was motionless. Her costume only made it worse. Julie cried beside her daughter not paying attention to how gruesome it was. Enid came in and fell down next to Maud. They were too shocked to cry. When Miss Hardbroom came in, you could see her heart drop at her student. She took a breath and then spoke.

“Girls stay out here.”

That breath, however, allowed Indigo to see Mildred’s corpse. She turned into Miss Hardbroom and started crying. Miss Hardbroom pulled Indigo further into her and held her tightly. The other students realised what had happened and also started to cry. Miss Hardbroom lead Indigo to Maud and Enid after around 30 seconds and went to comfort Julie.

What nobody realised is that there must have a light source upstairs because, outside the room, was a shadow. It was a huge shadow but it just a semi-circle with long sides. When the girls saw this, they run into the room and huddled in the corner.

It didn’t take the shadow long to reach the room and a woman entered. Her back hunched so much that you would think her spine came back on itself. Her face looked a lot like that of Felicity’s costume but more grotesque and twisted. Her voice was more of a high pitched shrill that grated the ears.

“Who dares enter my house?”

Before anyone else could answer Julie turned and yelled.

“Why did you kill her! She was 13 and you took her from me!”

“She entered the house and faced the consequences and now so shall you.”

Sending a beam of light out she send Julie across the room. “Who’s next?”

Miss Hardbroom made her way towards this woman. “Please. Let the children out.” She made no attempt to hide the fact that she was broken.

“You are all in my house. I will kill you all.”

“Please,” Miss Hardbroom’s voice went several octaves higher than normal. “if you let us out, we promise not to come back and I can make sure you don’t have more intruders.”

“You think that you are more powerful than me?”

Miss Hardbroom stammered at this which caused Julie to start laughing. This confused the girls. They thought she was dead but now she was laughing despite her daughter lying there dead. But then Mildred started to laugh as well and so did the woman and a smile came across Miss Hardbroom’s face. As Mildred got up, most of the girl started to laugh.

“Well met, Miss Pentangle”

“Well met, Mildred” The women suddenly started to shift into a familiar shape with pink clothes.

All the girls were now in hysterics as they realised that it had all been a massive prank.

“So how did you do it then Mildred?” inquired Carol.

“I decided that I wanted to do this as soon as Miss Cackle said we could go trick or treating. I knew mum would come and it wasn’t hard to get her onboard. I asked a friend if I could borrow their house which they agree to somehow. Although the décor isn’t what I remember.” She sent a look at Miss Pentangle.

“I thought this was scarier.”

“I approve. Anyway. I left most of what happened in here to Miss Pentangle to keep myself surprised but did organise my ‘death’ which of course mum knew about. I did most of the make-up for my wound back at school and touched it up between disappearing and screaming. Mum let Miss Hardbroom in on the plan as we neared the final house”

“I would have preferred more notice”

“but then you might have said no. I knew you wouldn’t do that if Miss Pentangle was waiting. Miss Pentangle followed us through whilst invisible and set the things off. Why she isn’t at her school I don’t know?”

“This sounded more fun” this garnered laughs from the girls.

“However, fun this was, we need to get back to school.”

“Yes Miss Hardbroom.”

“Lets thank Ms. Hubble for supervising us”

“Thank you Ms. Hubble (mum)”

“Of course how could I not”

Mildred hugged her mother fake guts still hanging out “I’ll mirror you tomorrow”

“Miss Pentangle”

“Yes Mildred?”

“Thank you. And can you make sure the house is spotless please.”

“No problem and of course”

“Alright say bye to Miss Pentangle”

“Bye Miss Pentangle” Felicity said this rather dreamily

And with that, Miss Hardbroom transferred them back to school.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miss Cackle was waiting for them. “How was it?”

“It was great”

“We visited a haunted house”

“I thought Mildred was dead”

“I was terrified”

“Miss Pentangle was there”

“We got so much chocolate”

“Can we do this next year as well?”

“I think that is a positive response. Well except for Mildred being dead.” She looked at Mildred. She knew about the head wound but the guts were a shock.

“I’ll explain. Girl please go to bed, or the showers” again looking at Mildred “I’ll make sure you do. And don’t eat too much chocolate too quickly.” With that the teachers transferred away, and the girls started to go to bed.

“Hey Mildred.”

“Yes Felicity?”

“Would it be possible to interview you for the bubble tomorrow?”

“Certainly. I would love to.”

“Good. I'll see you tomorrow then.” Felicity smiled as she left.


End file.
